Local councillor criticises Uisce Éireann over contractor decision

Local councillor Brendan Barry has criticised a move by Uisce Éireann, which he says will see a sole contractor from outside Leitrim brought in to carry out maintenance works in the county.

The Sinn Féin councillor said this is a new practice set to begin soon. Up until last year, Leitrim County Council was responsible for maintaining the local water network, but that responsibility has since been transferred to Uisce Éireann.

“It is costing Irish Water—and inevitably the people—more money to do the work,” said Councillor Barry. “If more contractors could tender for the work, then I think it could be done much more competitively.”

“Local, smaller contractors should be able to tender for this work,” Barry added. He expressed concern that Uisce Éireann is leaning toward larger contractors who can cover multiple counties, potentially excluding smaller, local companies.

Before responsibility for these works was handed over to Uisce Éireann, the county council used local companies—some of which had been retained for years and may now go out of business, according to Barry.

He believes locally based contractors are better equipped to respond to time-sensitive situations, as opposed to a single contractor based in Longford—the direction he says the work is currently heading.

“If we’re going to be waiting for a contractor to come from a neighbouring county when there’s an emergency—like a burst pipe—it’s obviously going to take longer,” Barry said.

Uisce Éireann, however, has stated that they have no plans to use external contractors for pipe maintenance in Leitrim. They said all such works are carried out by Uisce Éireann staff, alongside local plant hire companies for excavation works.

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